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The value of arts participation; Arts advocacy

What benefits do the arts have for attendees and participants? What are the best arguments to make in advocating for the arts? Volume 4, no 1 summarizes three reports that examine the potential benefits of the arts for arts participants. The RAND report, Gifts of the Muse, has led to much discussion about the "instrumental" and "intrinsic" effects of the arts as well as the best arguments to use in arts advocacy. Volume 4, no 1 also summarizes a discussion forum based on the RAND report as well as a report from Connecticut that examines the meaning and value of arts participation.

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This report, through a literature review of the benefits of the arts, attempts "to engage the arts community and the public in a new dialogue about the value of the arts, to stimulate further research, and to help public and private policymakers reach informed decisions".

This ArtsJournal Forum, funded by the Wallace Foundation, brings together 11 artists, arts administrators, advocates, researchers and critics to discuss the main contention of a recent RAND report: that a better case can be made for the arts by focussing on intrinsic effects.

Some of the many themes of the report include: the clear impact of childhood arts experiences on adult participation and overall quality of life; the interrelatedness of the arts ecosystem; the ways in which people access one artform through another; the fact that people derive significant value from personal curating; and how "personal connections with artists can bridge a relevance gap and ignite latent arts interests and inspire participation".